This build adds support for MEMOs and BLOBS to
service methods. Support is automatic, but may impact services by
adding fields which were not available before. As always, clients that
ignore these fields will not be a problem.
This build adds support for automatic formatting
and
deformatting
of parameter and return fields.
This feature can be activated and deactivated
globally. (It is on by default.)
It can be overridden at the
field level in the Method.
Because this is a change, which is on by default, it will almost
certainly change the output from your API. If you have custom clients
using your API, you will either need to update those, or turn this
feature in the method off. Please review your setup carefully to
decide which approach to take.
Specifically all fields which are stored as "not String" and have a
picture, are automatically converted to strings (using the picture)
and vice-versa. Note that this applies to numeric fields which have a
picture that formats the number with , separators. (eg 1,234.56). Your
client program may not be able to accept numbers formatted in this
way, so you may want to adjust the picture for these fields.
For Parameters this feature is limited to parameter types TABLE, DATE,
TIME, NUMBER and STRING. GROUP, QUEUE, STRINGTHEORY and FILE are
not supported.
For Return values this feature is limited to FIELD (from the
dictionary, not local data), TABLE and VIEW return types. For VIEWs
only Generated View fields are done automatically.
Embed points exist for both XML and JSON which allow you to format,
and deformat fields in hand-code.
| Format |
Type |
Method |
Code Example |
| xml |
parameter |
xml.AssignField |
Self.CurrentField =
Deformat(pString,'@d6') |
| json |
parameter |
json.DeformatValue |
Return Deformat(pValue,'@d6') |
| xml |
return value |
xml.SaveCurrentFieldToXML |
self.FormatCurrentField('@d6') |
| json |
return value |
json.FormatValue |
pLiteralType = json:string
Return clip(left(format(pValue,'@d6'))) |
For disconnected sync the server, and the desktop need to be
speaking the same language. For this reason the Desktop Sync client
now defaults to auto formatting. If you disable auto formatting on the
server side, then it needs to be disabled on the Desktop Client as
well.
Currently the JavaScript sync is always formatted, so it is
recommended that sync methods leave auto formatting on.
Field prefixes are a thorny problem for a couple
of reasons. Firstly, they're a foreign concept in most languages, so
they are often not desirable in a public API at all. Secondly they
make use of a colon separator, which is not a valid character in a
variable name in most languages.
For this reason you have the option to include, or exclude prefixes
from parameters and return values. In most cases having the prefix OFF
seems the better option.
For builds prior to 9.17 the default for prefixes was ON. For
parameters and values added using 9.17 or later the default value is
OFF. the setting for existing parameters and returns are not changed
by the update, however support for the prefix support in the system
has been overhauled so definitely check that your
methods are still working the way you expect.
When writing a web app, colons are translated into a double underscore
to make the names compatible with HTML. For ServiceMethods though,
colons are translated into a single underscore. In builds 9.16 and
earlier this was slightly inconsistent as simple GET and POST calls
still made use of the double underscore, where XML and JSON used a
single underscore. From 9.17 this has been made consistent so that all
requests, and all responses use a single underscore if prefixes are
ON.
Earlier builds did not reset the XML object back
to native state between uses in the method. This is a problem when the
same object is used for multiple parameters, or parameters and return
values. Each use of the object is now prefixed with a call to the
START method, which returns the object back to original state. If you
have set properties for the procedure before the START call then those
settings are now lost.
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